To find out what television broadcast programming is currently available, many people consult a printed guide. Some view a broadcast television guide or use an interactive program guide. Still others enjoy “channel surfing.”
“Channel Surfing” is a well-known and popular term in the common contemporary vernacular. In general, channel surfing is when one frequently switches from one channel (e.g., a television station) to another on a television set. Typically, the purpose may be to either to search for an interesting program or to keep track of several programs at once. This practice became widespread with the use of remote-control devices for changing channels while remaining seated some distance from the television set.
For a digital set-top boxes (such as digital satellite receivers and digital cable receivers), tuning is often slow compared to analog tuning. Consequently, channel surfing speed with digital tuning is slower than surfing with analog tuning.
Furthermore, with the large amount of channels, it is difficult for a user to keep track and/or discover what programs are being broadcast across all of the available channels at any given time.
Therefore, it is a challenge to improve the user's channel surfing experience.